[Tex/LaTex] Tabular border style

bordertables

\begin{tabular}{|c|c|c|}
Column 1 & Column 2 & column3 \\
\hline
second row & & \\
\hline
\end{tabular}

How do I change the border style? Using | I can draw thin solid vertical lines and \hline draws thin solid horizontal lines. I would like a thick outer border and thin dotted lines of various sizes and colors in the table. In short I would like to achieve similar functionality of attached screenshot of MS word table options in LaTeX. Also the reason for asking this is to put all table borders related answers in one place.

Thanks for your help. Screenshot of MS Word "Borders and Shading" dialog box

Best Answer

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{array,booktabs,arydshln,xcolor}
\newcommand\VRule[1][\arrayrulewidth]{\vrule width #1}

\begin{document}

\begin{tabular}{!{\VRule[2pt]}c!{\VRule}c!{\color{red}\VRule[3pt]}c!{\VRule}}
Column 1 & Column 2 & column3 \\\specialrule{3pt}{0pt}{0pt}
second row & & \\\hdashline
third row  & & \\\specialrule{4pt}{0pt}{0pt}
\end{tabular}

\end{document}

enter image description here

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] tabu package – gaps in vertical lines

One way is to shift up the skip prior to the mid-height \tabucline with a \\[-1pt]. See below for 2nd approach.

%Dokumentclass
\documentclass[landscape]{letter}

%Packages
\usepackage[landscape]{geometry}
\usepackage[utf8]     {inputenc}
\usepackage           {multirow}
\usepackage           {tabu}

%Formatting
\pagestyle{empty} %Remove numbering

\begin{document}
  \begin{tabu}{ |[1pt] l | l l | l | l |[1pt] }
                                                                                                                 \tabucline[1 pt]{1-5}
    \multicolumn{2}{ |[1pt] l }{ } & \multicolumn{3}{ |[1pt] l |[1pt]}{ }                                     \\                       \hline
    &                              & \multicolumn{1}{ |[1pt] l |     }{ } & \multicolumn{2}{  l |[1pt] }{ }   \\                       \hline
 y   &                              & \multicolumn{1}{ |[1pt] l |     }{ } & \multicolumn{2}{  l |[1pt] }{ }   \\[-1pt]   \tabucline[1 pt]{3-5} 
\hline
 x   &                              & \multicolumn{1}{ |[1pt] l |     }{ } &                                 & \\                       \hline
    &                              & \multicolumn{1}{ |[1pt] l |     }{ } &                                 & \\                       \hline
    &                              & \multicolumn{1}{ |[1pt] l |     }{ } &                                 & \\                       \hline
    &                              & \multicolumn{1}{ |[1pt] l |     }{ } &                                 & \\ \tabucline[1 pt]{1-5}
  \end{tabu}
\end{document}

enter image description here

Alternately, if you want the thin line to bisect the thick line, then the approach: \\[-1pt] \tabucline[1 pt]{3-5}\\[-12.5pt]\hline works.

%Dokumentclass
\documentclass[landscape]{letter}

%Packages
\usepackage[landscape]{geometry}
\usepackage[utf8]     {inputenc}
\usepackage           {multirow}
\usepackage           {tabu}

%Formatting
\pagestyle{empty} %Remove numbering

\begin{document}
  \begin{tabu}{ |[1pt] l | l l | l | l |[1pt] }
                                                                                                                 \tabucline[1 pt]{1-5}
    \multicolumn{2}{ |[1pt] l }{ } & \multicolumn{3}{ |[1pt] l |[1pt]}{ }                                     \\                       \hline
    &                              & \multicolumn{1}{ |[1pt] l |     }{ } & \multicolumn{2}{  l |[1pt] }{ }   \\                       \hline
 y   &                              & \multicolumn{1}{ |[1pt] l |     }{ } & \multicolumn{2}{  l |[1pt] }{ }   \\[-1pt]   \tabucline[1 pt]{3-5}\\[-12.5pt]
\hline
 x   &                              & \multicolumn{1}{ |[1pt] l |     }{ } &                                 & \\                       \hline
    &                              & \multicolumn{1}{ |[1pt] l |     }{ } &                                 & \\                       \hline
    &                              & \multicolumn{1}{ |[1pt] l |     }{ } &                                 & \\                       \hline
    &                              & \multicolumn{1}{ |[1pt] l |     }{ } &                                 & \\ \tabucline[1 pt]{1-5}
  \end{tabu}
\end{document}

enter image description here

[Tex/LaTex] tabular* right border misplaced

tabular* has a special syntax which must be followed to take advantage of its capability to expand the table to the whole textwidth. Here is the required syntax:

\begin{table}[htbp]
    \centering
    \begin{tabular*}{\textwidth}{|c|@{\extracolsep{\fill}}c|}
        \hline                                          
        \textbf{\textbf{Description sommaire}}: &  \\ \hline
    \end{tabular*}
\end{table}

Otherwise, just use the more-common tabularx environment (which I recommend):

\begin{table}[htbp]
    \centering
    \begin{tabularx}{\textwidth}{|c|X|}
        \hline                                          
        \textbf{\textbf{Description sommaire}}: &  \\ \hline
    \end{tabularx}
\end{table}

this gives the same result plus text-wrapping as a bonus.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] tabu package – gaps in vertical lines

[Tex/LaTex] tabular* right border misplaced

Related Question